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Boyd Innovation Center seeks to expand founder pipeline, reports 1,500 unique attendees and $500,000 raised by members
Summary
Lanford Holloway, Boyd Innovation Center board president, and Sam Herskovitz, newly named executive director, presented the center's programs and metrics, described expansion plans for founder recruitment beyond college students, and asked for private-sector engagement.
Lanford Holloway, president of the Boyd Innovation Center board, with Sam Herskovitz (the center's new executive director), told the City of Columbia economic development committee that the center supports entrepreneurs through mentorship, subsidized office space and educational programming and reported 150 events, 1,500 unique participants and about $500,000 in private investment raised by member companies over the past year.
Holloway said the center measures success by the number of new enterprises created and the number of existing companies helped to grow. He noted the BIC's pre-accelerator program, COLA STARTS, which has graduated about 20 tech-focused companies during the past year, and said current office space is approximately 75% leased.
The BIC asked the committee and other partners to help broaden the founder pipeline beyond university students to older cohorts with more work experience, to recruit regionally and to mobilize private-sector mentors and capital. Holloway and others described regional collaboration with nearby cities and incubators as essential to increase access to mentors, capital and customers.
Challenges the BIC identified include reaching a broader age cohort of founders, improving private-sector engagement and measuring program outcomes more systematically. Holloway said the center is building improved tracking and third-party metrics to identify which events and programs result in new startups and investment.
"Our whole goal as an organization is to create entrepreneurs and then to help small businesses grow," Holloway said. He and Herskovitz suggested city staff and private partners can help by including the Boyd Innovation Center on tours for potential investors, interns and visitors and by encouraging business leaders to show up and mentor.
No formal action or vote is recorded in the transcript related to the Boyd Innovation Center presentation.
